Columbia University Accidentally Sends Acceptance Letters to 277 Students

There's nothing worse than waiting months to hear back from your dream school only to get rejected. But imagine receiving an acceptance email and telling all your friends, family and followers the amazing news, only to find out that you didn't actually get accepted.

That's what happened to over 200 grad students who applied to the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. According to the New York Times, 277 students mistakingly received acceptance emails and it wasn't until over an hour later that the school sent out a second email informing them of the mix-up, and that they, in fact, had not been accepted.

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In the follow-up email from Julie Kornfeld, vice dean for education, the university apologized for the mistake, blaming "human error".

"We deeply apologize for this miscommunication," the email said. "We value the energy and enthusiasm that our applicants bring to the admissions process, and regret the stress and confusion caused by this mistake."

The university also vowed to take measures to ensure it would never happen again, claiming they were "working assiduously to strengthen our internal procedures." Sadly, the apology was of little comfort to the students whose acceptance joy quickly turned to devastating rejection.